


On the Cargo Ship from Junon

by neon



Category: Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997)
Genre: Anal Sex, Disguise, First Time, M/M, Wall Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:42:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27309400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neon/pseuds/neon
Summary: "Look, Cloud."Cloud already was looking, but at Barret. He’d been searching everywhere on the ship. Finally found the big man doing a poor job hiding outside the bridge, hisdisguisebarely useful.The white jumper Barret wore hugged every bulging muscle in his arms and legs, forced to conform to his extreme burliness or rip at the seams. On him, the square blue collar on his back looked like a napkin flapping in the wind. His cap was so small, the brim had to be squeezing his head. Though it wouldn’t be so bad for Barret’s inflated head to be shrunk down, in Cloud’s opinion.A sailor. He was disguised as a sailor.
Relationships: Cloud Strife/Barret Wallace
Comments: 6
Kudos: 67





	On the Cargo Ship from Junon

**Author's Note:**

> Happy coincidence, that I'm posting a fic where Barret and Cloud are dressed in disguises on Halloween! Happy Halloween, everybody!

"Look, Cloud."

Cloud already was looking, but at Barret. He’d been searching everywhere on the ship. Finally found the big man doing a poor job hiding outside the bridge, his _disguise_ barely useful.

The white jumper Barret wore hugged every bulging muscle in his arms and legs, forced to conform to his extreme burliness or rip at the seams. On him, the square blue collar on his back looked like a napkin flapping in the wind. His cap was so small, the brim had to be squeezing his head. Though it wouldn’t be so bad for Barret’s inflated head to be shrunk down, in Cloud’s opinion.

A sailor. He was disguised as a sailor. He looked even more conspicuous than Cloud and the others, disguised like Shinra cadets. Even _Red XIII_ hobbling upright on his hind legs blended in better than Barret. Who still had his gun attached to his arm, like that wasn’t a dead giveaway he wasn’t your average crew mate.

Cloud suddenly wondered how Barret had known it was _Cloud_ behind him. Without even glancing over, he’d been able to tell. Just thinking about it, maybe the disguises were doing more harm than good.

Cloud finally pulled his eyes from Barret’s ass filling out his pants, and moved closer to crouch beside him under the window’s edge, and look where Barret wanted him to look inside the ship’s bridge. Barret said low and angry, "Rufus and Heidegger. This close, but we can’t do a damn thing to 'em…"

They were there, just on the other side of the pane. Rufus, looking smugly at the horizon ahead like he owned that, too. Heidegger, roaring with his heinous, boot-licking laugh. Cloud’s gaze flit back to Barret, and his sneer at the sound of it.

"How can he… goin’ off laughin’ like that? Because of him… Goddammit, I can’t take it anymore-"

On the verge of doing something rash, then. Not good.

Aerith had told Cloud, below decks, that she was worried Barret was getting up to something stupid. Hands on her hips, looking very much like Aerith instead of a cadet, with a demeanor that said, _Well?_ She had appointed Cloud their leader over Barret’s self-nomination, leaving Midgar. Guess it was his job to take care of the members of their party. Protect them from themselves, even.

To get Barret’s focus, pull his gaze out from its narrow tunnel vision, Cloud set his hand on Barret’s arm.

Barret’s eyes turned on Cloud. His shoulder angrily knocked Cloud off.

Even dressed as ridiculously as he was did nothing to diminish his scouring look. His glower raked across Cloud, from the boots to the red lenses that hid Cloud’s eyes. Taking him in, an even more disgusted sneer twisted his lips, making him bare his teeth. The angry flak that had been aimed at Rufus and Heidegger caught Cloud in its spray:

"Feelin’ nice and _comfortable_ in your old threads?"

Cloud was weighed down by hard white shoulder, wrist, and knee guards. Strapped by leather suspenders and belts over dark jacket and pants. Smothered by the pale green scarf, and stifled by the heavy helmet. Back in the barracks in Junon, with each article Cloud had dressed himself in, he’d felt a vague feeling of growing disgust. Wondering when exactly it was he’d started to hate wearing the uniform he’d been so proud to don. Another headache - stabbing twinge haunted by a throbbing haze - had only made the feeling worse. Nausea on top of nausea. None of it felt right.

Almost as uncomfortable, for the others. Tifa, too, had said how she’d hated the uniform, the soldiers, all of it. Wasn’t hard to understand after all why Barret had picked to be a sailor, over a cadet. None of them liked being dressed like their enemy.

"Not really," Cloud finally said, tone as flat as Barret’s had been full of heat. "Good in your own getup, sailor?"

The two stared at one another. A breeze lifted the tail ends of Barret’s stupid kerchief, and at the same time scattered the tension mounting between them. Barret broke first, so Cloud backed off, too.

"Ah… shit," Barret gruffly admitted.

Cloud replied, "You _seriously_ think I like wearing this, again."

"Man… I know you don’t." Barret gazed down the tunnel again though, staring back into the bridge. "Don’t get how you can be so cool though, even now."

"Barret," said Cloud. Barret’s eyes tracked back to Cloud, looking him over sidewise. Maybe something in Cloud’s tone had pulled him back.

'Cause Cloud had half a mind to smash his way through glass and get what was owed, too. For Biggs. Wedge. Jessie.

Cloud rose, and stepped back from the window, grabbing one hip carefully and hanging his other hand. Spoke like he was talking just to Barret, and not convincing himself, too.

"Gotta stay on mission. Like you said… can’t do anything about them. Not here, not now. C’mon."

Barret pretty much growled, low and dissatisfied. But still, he quipped, "C’mon _where?_ In the middle of the damn ocean."

"You wanna glare at those two the whole trip, be my guest. Sure there are better ways you could blow off steam." Maybe even try to blend in. That’d be something to see.

Barret pivoted on his heels to keep eyes on Cloud instead of the two through the glass. An improvement. Though his words didn’t encourage that he’d really shifted his train of thought.

"Y’know what… maybe you’re right. Could take care of a couple of nuisances, after all."

Cloud sighed, about to take a step forward and stop Barret if he had to.

"That uniform of yours, for one."

"…Huh?"

"Let’s get you out of those clothes," Barret said, jerking his chin up toward Cloud, "If we both hate you bein’ in 'em so much."

Cloud’s step fell and then stayed, stuck in place. Distantly he was aware of the dull rush of waves from the ship cutting through water. The low groan of its metal floating body. The muted call of one crew mate to another through the wind.

Barret quirked a brow, waiting with his look steady on Cloud. Really no other way to take what Barret had said.

"You’re… serious," Cloud responded, finally.

"That’s right. Don’t think I haven’t noticed the way you’ve been lookin’ at me."

"But, I’m wearing a helmet."

Barret scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Not just on this tugboat, genius."

"I-"

Cloud cut off. Like he’d said, wearing the helmet, but that only covered half of his burning face. Yeah, he’d looked at Barret before. Hard not to. He was massive. And, Cloud grudgingly had to admit, the man was good-looking. Handsome.

Whatever.

"Don’t tell me…" Barret interrupted, giving Cloud another once-over. "SOLDIER First Class, but a rookie in the sac."

Cloud scoffed back at him. "Shut up."

Had no reason to be defensive, though. Barret was right - wasn't he? Barely had time to himself to take care of things, and not exactly high on his list of priorities, to get laid. Like that was his biggest problem.

He put his hand back on his hip and leaned on one leg, sufficient air of disregard put on, he thought. "So what if I am?" he grumbled.

Through his nose, Barret huffed. Cloud didn’t think he imagined it sounding let down.

"So… you can forget I said anything. Don’t think this grungy ship is where you want your first time. Don’t think I’m in the mood to go easy on you, either."

Cloud blinked, after Barret shuttered the hot look he’d been giving him. The heated, rolling flush under his skin from it lingered, leaving behind tacky sweat that made Cloud aware again how the uniform clung, especially to his normally bare arms and shoulders, and how constraining it was.

Barret aimed his stare at his fist, that he opened and used to grip the bulk of his thigh, instead. "Don’t worry… You don’t gotta babysit me. Sure the others could use you more than me."

"Not so sure about that," Cloud answered. He scanned Barret another moment. "C’mon," he repeated.

"…Wasn’t kiddin’ about any of what I said. That really how you wanna do this?"

Like he was some princess who’d dreamed about how his first time should go. As if. Now was as good a time as any. Might not get another chance anytime soon, either. Like things were going to slow down once they reached the new continent.

"What if I said I didn’t care about any of that?"

Barret snorted. "Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve heard those words out of your mouth."

Cloud eventually ducked his head and chuffed near silently, too. He glanced back up to Barret watching him, with his interest back, full-force. For a moment, Cloud’s body remembered it was on water, and he felt the boat sway below his boots. But he kept his legs, obviously, as Barret considered him for a long moment.

Barret pushed himself up from his crouch with a grunt. "Alright… Let’s go then, rookie."

"Don’t call me that," Cloud warned, already turning and walking ahead.

Stopped by Barret, though, before they made it to the stairs leading down. Palm-side up, he waved his fingers briskly at Cloud. "Hey, hold up. Gimme some gil."

"Fat chance."

"Quit bein’ stingy, merc. You’re the one holdin’ all our coin, but it don’t belong all to you. C’mon, cough some up."

"…Fine. How much?"

Cloud deposited the gil from his pocket into Barret’s hand with a sigh. Barret threw the coin up before snatching it again, outfit pulling even tighter around his shoulders, grin rubbing his victory in Cloud’s face.

He took the gil with him to the man on deck who Cloud had passed earlier on his way to find Barret, trying to sell Cloud something for his "pep". This time, Cloud overheard him exclaim, _Aloe vera, yes indeed!_ way too enthusiastically. Quite the salesman. Or bored as hell. _A must item for a sailor! That sun beats harsh on deck-_

 _Yeah, yeah, give it here,_ said Barret, adding, _Thanks._

"The hell’s that for?"

Barret snorted, back at Cloud’s side. "Ain’t for a sunburn. Trust me, worth the gil."

 _If you say so,_ Cloud drawled with a shrug. Barret caught back up to him, Cloud continued leading the way toward the stairs and the lower deck.

He slipped through the bars below the stairs. One side was blockaded by the ship’s belly, all other sides by tall barriers of crates. The ship’s cargo. Cloud double-checked the perimeter once Barret bowed through too, ensuring they wouldn’t be caught through any gaps.

Looked like they were all clear. When Cloud said so, Barret rounded on him.

The back of Cloud’s helmet took the knock his head would’ve against the boxes. _Hey,_ he hissed, more annoyed than battered.

Closing the distance between them, a leg spreading Cloud’s, Barret breathed across his face, and actually kept his voice down. "Wearin’ a helmet, ain’t ya?" That the loudmouth could manage it was a real shocker, thought Cloud. Even past the thought of how thick Barret’s thigh was, and how close it pressed to Cloud’s dick.

Barret shifted and nudged Cloud’s groin harder, his knee pushed to the crate Cloud’s back was up against. More and more firmly, the more Cloud tried to self-consciously rise from it. Eventually he gave up on keeping separate, and straddled Barret.

Even that much contact made Cloud feel… gratified. Stupid, to feel so much from so little. Whatever. Barret had to already be feeling him through his pants, and there wasn’t going to a point for long about being shy about his dick.

Like Barret could read him, a palm pressed heavy on Cloud’s lower back, curving him to slide even further on Barret’s thigh. Cloud grunted, quiet, in the base of his throat.

The sound, first one like it he’d made, gave Barret pause. Finally something in him simmering down, after his held on anger.

"Gotta ask…"

Another grunt to say he was listening, Cloud stilled before he let himself shift his hips. "What is it?"

Barret studied Cloud then with a furrowed brow, stern eyes. "You ain’t just doin’ this for my sake, right? I know you’re the… the leader now, but that don’t make this your responsibility. That better not be what you’re thinkin’."

"You need the distraction," Cloud reminded him. Because Barret did.

Not what Barret wanted to hear, apparently. Since he uttered, _Oh, hell,_ and lowered his knee, unpinning Cloud. The broken contact made Cloud’s thoughts come to a standstill. But the words were already escaping him.

"And I… I want it."

Barret stared so long, without saying anything, Cloud finally muttered at him, _"What?"_

"Take off your helmet and say that again, if you mean it."

Cloud mumbled gruffly, _Okay…_

His fingers unhooked the chinstrap, and then he lifted the helmet off with both hands and held it in front of his waist. Took another moment, and then made determined eye contact, his voice hoarser pushing the confession past the pride he swallowed. "I said I want it, Barret."

A blur of white next to Cloud’s face as Barret’s arm moved to cushion the back of Cloud’s head, that time. The scent of cloying sea salt and what had to be Barret’s smokey musk underneath, and the firm press of lips on his. Barret was kissing him.

Something bounced, loudly, at their feet. The helmet. It had fallen from the edges of Cloud’s fingers.

All or nothing, as usual, was Barret’s way. Cloud felt caught in the drag of Barret’s enthusiasm, nothing to cling to but the flat side of the crate he curled his gloves on. Until reflex kicked in, and had him close his eyes, breathe through his nose. Part his mouth. Barret licked eagerly inside. The breath he shared was warm, his tongue insistent against Cloud’s before rolling along his teeth. It was a little surprising - that Barret was obviously into this. If he’d been looking at Cloud too, Cloud hadn’t been paying attention.

Cloud yanked his face away, to pull a deep, silent breath. The smirk was audible in Barret’s smugly packed, _Hmph._

That he could manage to feel smug looking like he did was a real feat. With the flat back of his hand, Cloud tapped the white sailor’s cap off.

Barret murmured, _Asshole_ , up against his mouth, before molding to it again. At the same time as he slid his hand down, squeezing Cloud higher to his hip, palm molding to his ass.

Cloud had been halfway to hard even before Barret had gotten his hand firmly on him. Getting so turned on by petting probably wasn’t normal. But touch wasn’t something Cloud was all that used to getting. Being so standoffish might’ve had something to do with that.

To hell with it. Finally Cloud stopped resisting the impulse, and started shifting his hips along the thigh Barret gave him. Just moving in a way that felt good. Barret drew back, and Cloud kept his eyes closed, to just focus on the physical feeling, right then. Not Barret’s attention on him.

He set his palm back on the crate, still not sure what to do with his hands, after tugging his scarf to get it out of the way so he could look down. Barret’s focus dropped with his, to watch him roll his hips, dark fatigues dragging and wrinkling against the bright white leg of Barret’s jumper.

" _Mm…_ Damn, thought you’d be way more frigid. But you move good… feel good." He pushed his thigh up more for Cloud to get some pressure, and Cloud breathed unintentionally, _A-ah…_ "Sound good…"

Cloud made another noise, cause more to do with Barret’s words than the friction. "We - need to be quiet, Barret," Cloud warned in a hiss. "You wanna get caught? Fastest way to blow our cover and get thrown off the ship, I’m betting."

"Yeah, you’re right. Better to shut up." Just a moment later, he spoke up again, though. What now?

"Kinda wish…"

Keeping his voice low and covering the fact he had to catch his breath, Cloud asked him, "Wish what?"

"Haven’t done this in…" Cloud watched Barret set his mouth, and brace up, all of a sudden. "Well, a long time. Wish we could take our time, is all."

Sentimental was an improvement from angry. Though Cloud was less certain about how to handle that.

Gradually, Cloud slowed to a halt with his rutting. He ended up saying, "Don’t exactly have anything to compare it to, if you do suck." Not what he’d thought, so far, though.

Barret finally chuckled to himself. Back to normal, for the time being. "Jackass. Some things about you are still cold as ice."

"It’s fine, Barret," Cloud went on, taking another try at reassurance. Normally he wouldn’t, but. Maybe he’d take a page out of Barret’s book, for once. Cloud was hardly the type of leader full of motivational speeches, promises to take the load onto his shoulders and all that. But he guessed he could spare a few words, for Barret.

"Nothing wrong with things going like they are. Don’t worry about it. Don’t worry about treating me with kid gloves, either."

Barret’s breath puffed. "If you say so." He leveraged his knee down, that time saying, "Alright then. Drop your pants."

When Cloud started undoing them, he blinked at the waver visible in his fingers. But he kept going, hoping Barret didn’t see. Barret knelt and dragged Cloud’s pants off from around his boots. Cloud lifted his calves one at a time to help tug.

"Barely ever seen you shake." Shit. Barret noticed, then. "Guess even you’re not immune to jitters."

"I-"

"Hey, most people get nervous."

Cloud wished Barret would drop it. And then Barret went on, "Hell, _somethin’ normal_ about you, for once." He chuckled at Cloud’s expense, while Cloud rolled his eyes, and sagged slightly, relieved.

"C’mon, rookie."

"You can stop calling me tha- _ah!"_

Cloud’s mutter broke off into a gasp. Barret obnoxiously controlled his own voice when he jabbed, "Keep your voice down, huh?"

He moved his fist on Cloud’s cock again. _Don’t even need that aloe vera,_ he murmured, _You’re awful wet._ Cloud had no idea why Barret was bringing up the aloe vera, and quickly forgot about it again when Barret caught the liquid beading at Cloud’s tip to spread down. Cloud winced, holding in the whimpers along with the jerks of his hips. Turned out someone else’s hand felt better. Way better.

"Barret…" Cloud grit out. "Wait-"

Barret let go, hand moving to the side of Cloud’s bare hip. "What’s up?"

Sort of missing Barret’s hand on him, but relieved for the break, Cloud took a steadying breath before starting, "I, uh…"

"You really that sensitive?"

"Yeah… Guess so." Truth was, Cloud didn’t think he’d gotten that hard that fast in his life. Whenever he did get a hand on himself, things were always drawn out. Took forever.

"Here." Barret rifled through his pocket, and dropped the bottle of aloe vera into the hand Cloud raised. Barret waited with his open one hanging between them.

"Uh…" said Cloud.

Barret twitched his fingers. "Coat 'em for me."

Cloud took off his white wrist guards, and tugged the fingertips of his gloves to loosen and pull them off, first. Then he upended the bottle, and reached for Barret. Pressing his thumb into Barret’s palm to hold in place, while his other hand ran the thick gel around Barret’s finger knuckles.

Didn’t remember if he’d ever voluntarily reached out for Barret’s hand before. Even though Barret was always choosing to close the distance between them, to nudge at Cloud’s shoulder, move him aside, or something like that. Barret was one of the few who’d assumed he just could touch whenever he wanted, since the moment they’d met. Didn’t really care about Cloud’s boundaries in the first place, and Cloud hadn’t cared to put a stop to him. The weight and feel of his hand when he did reach something Cloud had tried to memorize to prolong. Just secretly glad for something, even briefly, even from abrasive Barret, back then.

Guess it made sense, that this was going down with Barret, of all people.

"Alright, that’s good," Barret said, keeping his wet fingers apart when he pulled his hand out from Cloud’s grasp. "Turn around."

"Uh - right."

Cloud did, bracing hands on the cargo box in front of him. One hand leaving darker, slippery marks on the wood. He widened his stance, after Barret knocked a shoe against the insides of Cloud’s boots. Then he twitched, at the feel of Barret’s slick, slightly cooler finger prodding him.

Oh, Cloud thought, catching up, That’s what all that was for.

"You wanna let go of that breath you’re holdin’, Cloud," came Barret’s advice. Rumbling closer than Cloud had expected, near the back of his neck.

"I-" Cloud said on an inhale, then with his next loose breath, "Y… Yeah."

Eyes closing, he hung his head in front of him and focused. On breathing, on relaxing. When Barret quit circling and pressed a finger in, Cloud still slightly winced.

One of his palms fumbled on the crate’s surface, lifting off and setting back down. Barret told him, "Go on and touch yourself. Might take some of the edge off." Cloud shook his head. Didn’t know why. Except that it would’ve been like more of the usual. Just him, jacking himself off.

The hum that came from Barret didn’t sound too satisfied with that. He came up with a compromise. "You set the pace. Tell me when you’re ready for another."

Cloud dropped his tense shoulders with a slightly amused huff. Seriously, what ever happened to not taking things easy?

So far, mostly felt… weird. A little bit of sting, but just really pressure. Though Cloud pulled in a short gasp when he felt Barret crook the end of his finger. That felt different. Better. "Ready," Cloud whispered, face turning to the side to make sure Barret heard him.

When Barret fit two, then three, when he bent and pumped them, Cloud groaned, for a second forgetting the need to be quiet. The sting had faded. He could feel himself stirring back up.

"C’mon…" A low whine left Cloud’s throat when Barret dragged his fingers out. "Back around, now."

Cloud turned in place, facing Barret again. The bulge in Barret’s own pants was hard to miss. Cloud had figured as much.

Without thinking about it, Cloud reached down. Because, he was figuring out, he apparently could.

He tugged the zipper of Barret’s white pants down, and had a thought fitting his hand through the part. First cock he’d ever held besides his own. Felt hefty, and thick, in Cloud’s hand. Big, obviously, like the rest of Barret.

Adjusting his grip, Cloud rubbed up with the heel of his hand, and ran a thumb across the slit at Barret’s tip. Not expecting the sudden twitch, or the rush of Barret’s breath. His eyes darted up to Barret’s face, while his hold loosened.

And then his boots left the floor, because Barret hefted him onto his waist. His hand smacked the side of the crate next to Cloud, his other gunarm hanging straight and heavy along his side. Cloud, by reflex, grabbed the edge of the wall overhead after it shuddered from Barret’s force, to hold onto and keep from sliding right back off Barret’s hips. Barret took a step forward to pin Cloud, moved his hand to grab Cloud’s thigh to secure higher around his waist, help him stay put. Cloud breathed sharply from the press of Barret’s hard stomach on his cock. From Barret’s encompassing grip on the side of his leg. From being firmly pressed on by all of Barret.

Cloud pulled his arms, tensing and rising, feeling Barret’s cock glide underneath him. With a small shake of his head he relaxed again, pushing down by instinct when he felt the stretch around Barret’s head. And just like that, Barret popped the knob of his cock past Cloud’s rim, gliding all the way until Cloud felt Barret’s hips. Barret was inside him.

"Shit," he hissed.

Barret’s rumbling, low timbre shook through Cloud’s senses when he told Cloud to, "Take a minute. Then I’m gonna quit goin’ easy."

"Fine by me," Cloud answered. That’s what Barret had said in the first place. But he did take the moment, to adjust to the feeling. Fuller than Barret’s fingers, that was for sure. Way deeper, too. Still weird, in that Cloud wasn’t used to it, but it felt… it felt _good._ Just when Cloud thought they were about as close as they could get, Barret kept pushing them _closer._ Being skin to skin, overwhelmed Cloud more than anything.

Cloud was becoming aware Barret was just as overwhelmed. Sheathed in Cloud, when Cloud shifted to test his limits, there was a hard buck of Barret’s hips in reaction, an ensuing grunt of restraint.

Cloud finally nodded. Not sure he’d really adjusted, that he ever could. But he told Barret in a hush anyway, "Go ahead. Move." Barret was taking it easy on him. But Cloud could handle him.

Not kidding, Barret rammed. Hard.

Pushed up against the cargo, bare legs wrapped around Barret’s ridiculously tight sailor’s shirt, and still grabbing the top edge of the highest box above him - that would’ve been a strenuous position for anyone else, who wasn’t Cloud. Even Cloud though struggled because of Barret, adjusting his grip and grunting with the effort of holding himself from banging against the crates with Barret’s next thrusts alerting everyone on the ship to what the two of them were getting up to.

One of Cloud’s hands fell to the breadth of Barret’s arm, an anchor to keep him suspended and braced between Barret and the wall behind. Not shaken off in anger, like earlier. Barret even hummed when Cloud gripped with more pressure, rubbing down Barret’s forearm all the way to the inner bend of his elbow. Maybe Cloud was doing alright. All the embarrassing whimpers and groans dropping from his mouth that he couldn’t keep locked up seemed to have Barret going.

Picking up the pace, but caving too, Barret moaned with an open mouth on the front of Cloud’s jacket. Cloud took his hand back for just a moment to tear his scarf off, and Barret took the opening, panting on Cloud’s bared collar.

"Fuck," he breathed, half-laugh, "Your ass is tight. _Heh._ Don’t know why I expected different, you _tight-ass._ "

Cloud groaned. Should’ve known Barret would be a talker, and still a trash talker, even then. "Shut up, Barret."

" _Mm-hmm…_ Takin’ it like a champ. You feelin’ good?"

Cloud was a little taken aback by the check. Thought his dick should’ve been answer enough. "I mean… yeah-"

"Well, I’m 'bout to blow your mind, _rookie_."

Cloud let that one slide. He smirked instead, meeting Barret’s glinting gaze when Barret raised his head. "That right-"

Barret’s next thrust sent sparks, like from the edge of a sword skittering across metal, through Cloud.

"Wha…" What the hell was that? Cloud stared down at himself, at the skin under his jacket where Barret would be pressing from the inside. Barret took on the smirk that had dropped from Cloud’s lips. _Told ya._ And gave another ruthlessly pinpointed thrust.

Cloud wanted to feel that again.

He didn’t bother waiting for Barret. He lifted himself using his arm still hanging on overhead, and dropped onto Barret’s dick, pressing him to that same spot behind his navel. More sparks scattered like flint, tingling where they brushed and fizzled out. Cloud repeated the move again, dropping quicker, not even realizing what he was doing, taking over. Just chasing that sensation. Exertion wasn’t a problem, it had nothing to do with muscle fatigue, but his arm quivered.

 _Hoo,_ he heard Barret sound, before he said determined, _Okay._ Not to be outdone, that was for sure. No way was Cloud able to hold back the noise when Barret wrapped Cloud’s cock back up in his fist.

He jerked up into Barret’s grip with the same movement of rising and falling down on Barret. His arm shook worse, his legs picking up the shudder.

" _Sh-shit -_ I - I’m-"

"Close, huh?"

Fuck, he was. It was building in his gut sharp and fast as a spike of adrenaline.

"Hang onto me, now," Barret said, "I got you covered."

Panting, Cloud dropped his head back against the wall of crates, letting go of the top with sore fingers to instead twist Barret’s shirt. Surprised for a moment by the feel of fabric where Barret’s tattoo on his shoulder would normally be exposed. Barret stepped in with the pull on his sleeve, and kissed Cloud square on the mouth, and kept good on his word.

Quick bursts from his hips hitting their mark, two more upstrokes managed in the scant space between them, and Cloud, cry barely bitten off in time to not be heard, came in Barret’s hand.

His mind went blank. Blissfully, blank. Eventually, when Cloud remembered he had hands, he unclenched them, and smoothed the wrinkles he’d bunched Barret’s sleeve into. Barret slid out and set him down. Cloud locked his knees when he touched ground again. Kept his fingertips in contact with Barret’s shoulder that shifted as he tugged his own cock, with Cloud watching him under heavy-lidded eyes, until he splashed on the floor between Cloud’s boots.

The groan Barret let out was way too loud. The weight he dropped into Cloud with was almost too heavy. He regained his breath from his harsh panting, and pressed a forceful kiss under Cloud’s jaw, before he knelt for the discarded uniform pants.

Cloud sagged his shoulders back against the wood, and ran a hand through his hair, while Barret managed to yank the pants back up. Then he stood in front of Cloud. One of Barret’s eyebrows rose, and his mouth frowned with something like concern.

Cloud was stuck marveling how, hell, _good_ he still felt. Dazed, but in an okay way, for once.

"Doin’ alright, ain’t ya?"

"Huh? Yeah…" Cloud straightened up from off the wall, shaking his head and gathering his wits. Finally sliding his hand from Barret’s shoulder, and Barret only stepped away when let go. He placed the helmet he picked back up from the floor too into Cloud’s hands.

Cloud asked Barret, "Calmed down any?" Playing it cool. Didn’t want to give away any more than he had. But Barret’s tone was more sincere.

"Yeah… Hey, Cloud…"

_"Mm?"_

Cloud took a closer look at Barret, too. Dusting off his sailor’s cap, holding the front and back brim to pull it back on his head, he looked uncharacteristically diffident, too.

"Uh, thanks. Who knows, I might’ve… done something real stupid, back at the bridge."

"Dunno," Cloud said, "We still kinda did."

He glanced up from Barret’s outfit to briefly meet eyes, then ducked his head, deciding a moment later that he’d intended to raise the helmet after looking at it.

"Nah." Barret stepped close again. Still holding the helmet, about to put it back on, Cloud stalled. Barret’s gaze pulled his back up so that they looked at and searched each other. "Wasn’t stupid. Could even say-"

The blare of alarms cut him short.

"What the-"

_Emergency alert! Reports of a suspicious character found! Those not on detail, search the ship-_

"Damn - did they find us-"

"No way - Wasn’t us." Cloud set his helmet back in place, securing the chinstrap. "Someone got spotted, though."

"You mean Tifa and the others? Well, c’mon, man! Get off your spikey butt, and let’s go!"

* * *

The levity that vanished during their prowl of the ship, after another rough battle that left more questions than answers, managed remarkably to come back as they all stepped into sunlit air reaching Costa del Sol. Barret stepped off deck first, already complaining about the heat. But a moment later he sighed loud, and with relief.

"I sure feel better, now that I can say goodbye to that sailor suit."

"Aw…" pouted Aerith, "But you looked so cute."

"What d’ya mean, _cute_ …"

"You should keep it! You really _did_ look cute, dressed like a sailor," Tifa said, covering her grin with a hand. Sunlight and her own regular gear back on seemed to make her overly glad, too. She pivoted to Cloud. "Right?"

Cloud lifted his face toward the sky. Unexpectedly, he recalled the one good thing to happen on the ship. Sunlight must’ve been having an affect on him, too. He felt his shoulders shake with a rare chuckle.

"A sailor, huh?" Cloud snorted softly at the image that came to mind. "Looked more like a bear wearing a marshmallow."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to ariad for the very good headcanon that Cloud would obviously be a touch-starved virgin at this point in the game.
> 
> @highfivestrife (nsfw)


End file.
